Messi said he reached the decision after extensive consideration following Argentina’s 2026 World Cup final against Spain. He wrote his retirement message on July 21, two days after the final in New Jersey. Messi later said the death of his father, Jorge Messi, in August reinforced his decision to publish the message. He described leaving the national team as painful while stressing the pride he felt representing Argentina. Messi also thanked teammates, coaches, family members and supporters who accompanied him throughout his international career.
Japanese stocks came under sharp pressure Monday as the Nikkei 225 dropped nearly 2% in early trading. The benchmark fell 1.97% to 65,096.63 and later touched an intraday low of 64,832.10. Technology shares led much of the decline as investors reacted to higher bond yields and tighter interest rate expectations. The broader Topix also weakened early, falling 0.84% to 4,111.71. Japanese government bond yields rose at the same time, adding pressure to rate sensitive parts of the equity market.
The report says almost 19% of the world’s children now live in conflict zones. That compares with about 10% during the 1990s. By the end of 2024, conflict and violence had displaced 48.8 million children worldwide. The total was nearly triple the roughly 17 million recorded in 2010. It includes refugee and asylum-seeking children, along with millions uprooted within their own countries by conflict and violence. Climate hazards are adding another layer of risk for children around the world. Nearly half of all children, or 1.1 billion, face at least three overlapping climate hazards. Almost every child faces at least one such hazard, according to UNICEF’s 2026 climate risk assessment. More than 4 million children face as many as six overlapping threats. The hazards include drought, extreme heat, heatwaves, floods, fires, tropical storms and sand and dust storms.
China’s digital industry generated 20.71 trillion yuan in revenue during the first half of 2026, up 13.6% from a year earlier. Total profit reached 1.79 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.3%. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the sector’s revenue growth accelerated by 4.1 percentage points from the same period last year. The industry’s profit margin reached 8.6%, up 0.7 percentage point. China’s largest digital industry centers accounted for most of the national total. The 10 leading provincial-level markets generated 17.21 trillion yuan in combined revenue, up 13.2%. They represented 83.1% of national digital industry revenue and contributed 87% of overall revenue growth. Central China recorded 2.86 trillion yuan in digital industry revenue, an increase of 28.3% from a year earlier.
Automotive
German luxury sports car manufacturer Porsche announced an agreement with labor representatives on Monday to reduce its workforce by an additional 5,000 positions by 2035 as part of a restructuring program. The decision brings total planned job eliminations across the company to approximately 9,000 positions, representing roughly 21 percent of its 42,066 workforce. Company leadership confirmed that Porsche to cut 5,000 more jobs under restructuring plan negotiations following months of talks between management and labor councils. The initiative aims to bolster operational efficiency as the vehicle producer confronts declining market share in Asia, elevated global tariffs, and sluggish demand for electric vehicles.
News
The report says almost 19% of the world’s children now live in conflict zones. That compares with about 10% during the 1990s. By the end of 2024, conflict and violence had displaced 48.8 million children worldwide. The total was nearly triple the roughly 17 million recorded in 2010. It includes refugee and asylum-seeking children, along with millions uprooted within their own countries by conflict and violence. Climate hazards are adding another layer of risk for children around the world. Nearly half of all children, or 1.1 billion, face at least three overlapping climate hazards. Almost every child faces at least one such hazard, according to UNICEF’s 2026 climate risk assessment. More than 4 million children face as many as six overlapping threats. The hazards include drought, extreme heat, heatwaves, floods, fires, tropical storms and sand and dust storms.
Economic cooperation formed a major part of the talks. Bilateral trade reached $1.3 billion in 2025, up 33%, according to the Uzbek government. Both countries set a target of raising annual trade to $5 billion by 2030. The number of joint ventures has increased sevenfold in recent years. India and Uzbekistan also have 14 direct flights each week, while four Indian universities currently operate in Uzbekistan. The leaders called for broader industrial and business links.
The Nepal authority said rescue teams have brought 10,451 people to safety, including 252 foreign nationals. It listed 592 foreigners among those still missing, alongside 933 workers from hydropower projects along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli corridors. Officials recorded 267 injured people, while 156 had left medical care after treatment. Nepal has deployed more than 20,000 security personnel for search, rescue and relief work across affected districts. Helicopters are also moving survivors and emergency supplies between isolated communities.
Magnitude 5.1 earthquake strikes Longchang City in China Sichuan province as local emergency management agencies initiate preliminary impact assessments across the county level territory. Regional emergency services dispatchers confirmed that no immediate reports of casualties, injuries, or structural property destruction were filed in the hours following the tremor. Local civil defense departments mobilized inspection units to evaluate public infrastructure, including municipal water supplies, power grids, gas pipelines, and transport corridors across Neijiang. State media reporting relayed by Xinhua News Agency verified that rural townships nearest to the epicenter reported minor ground shaking without disruptions to local utilities.
Algeria wildfires kill 12 and injure 54 amid severe heat ALGERIA / RankWire.AI / – Wildfires across northeastern Algeria have killed at least 12 people and injured 54, authorities said Wednesday night. Five deaths occurred in Jijel, four in Bejaia and three in Tizi Ouzou, Interior Minister Said Sayoud said. Six injured people remained in critical condition and were receiving intensive care after suffering burns. The fires spread across several provinces during a severe heatwave affecting Algeria and other parts of North Africa.
Nearly 22,000 Pakistanis deported from Gulf over four months for visa violations and begging highlights tightening immigration enforcement across the Middle East. The written statement submitted by the Ministry for Narcotics Control detailed that Saudi Arabia accounted for the vast majority of repatriations, expelling 15,500 Pakistani nationals during the four-month window. The United Arab Emirates deported 3,803 individuals, followed by Oman with 1,606 deportations, Bahrain with 521, Qatar with 429, and Kuwait with 97. A significant subset of the repatriated individuals involved 4,628 absconders, 1,294 individuals who served prison sentences, and 472 individuals specifically identified as beggars.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off Indonesia’s North Sumatra province on Tuesday, shaking communities across parts of Sumatra. The earthquake occurred at 1:02:23 p.m. western Indonesian time, or 06:02:23 UTC. Official data placed the epicenter in the sea, 147 kilometers southeast of South Nias Regency. The earthquake had a depth of 29 kilometers, with its source beneath waters west of Sumatra.Residents across other parts of Sumatra also reported shaking after the magnitude 6.1 earthquake. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency, or BNPB, said the earthquake had no potential to generate a tsunami. Residents in South Nias felt weak shaking for about three to five seconds. Local disaster offices began monitoring affected areas after the tremor, while the initial national bulletin provided no confirmed casualty or damage figures.
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has become the deadliest in the country’s history, with 4,945 confirmed cases and 2,325 deaths as of Aug. 16. Health officials recorded 101 new confirmed cases during the previous 24 hours, surpassing the 2,299 fatalities recorded during the country’s 2018 to 2020 outbreak. The epidemic has reached 54 health zones across six provinces, with Ituri remaining the center of the outbreak. The outbreak has also affected health workers, with at least 155 infections and 45 deaths reported among them.